Account Director

Department: Account Management (Advertising)

Location: London

Contact type: 6-month FTC

Full Time/Part time: Full Time

Reporting into: Business Director

About Ogilvy:

Our vision is to inspire brands and people to impact the world. To create big ideas that make a significant contribution to the planet, society, and the bottom line. We believe in today’s world this is the best way for our clients to achieve sustainable growth. We achieve this by breaking down the barriers that restrict talent and ideas.

Which is why our teams work fluidly across 5 capabilities: Advertising, Consulting, Experience, PR & Influencer, and Health. This allows us to not only operate but innovate at the intersection of capabilities and talent. We believe impact and magic lies at this intersection. Ogilvy scales this by seamlessly connecting and accessing the deep cultural expertise of 132 offices in 83 countries.

The result is multifaceted ideas for our clients that drive impact and are born from the intersection of platform x culture x technology.

We call this Borderless Creativity.

Ogilvy was ranked the number one UK agency at D&AD and was the only UK agency to win a Glass Lions at Cannes. Ogilvy was also nominated network of the year in Cannes Lions, Campaign, Effie Awards EMEA, London International Awards, The One Show and WARC Rankings.

In 2022, Ogilvy was the most creatively awarded agency globally – including the most awarded agency at the Clio Awards, DMA Awards, Influencer Marketing Awards, London International Awards and The One Show.

Ogilvy UK’s PR practice won large agency of the year at the PR Week awards. And our Consulting practice was in the Forbes 2022 list of best management consultancy firms.

The Role:

This role provides the opportunity to work on one of the UK’s leading retail accounts – Sainsbury’s. You will have the opportunity to lead key campaigns across the year that will involve working with our strategy, creative and production team to deliver best in class integrated advertising campaigns.

This role is perfect for someone who has a proven track record of thriving in a fast paced working environment with an emphasis on retail – they will have experience creating and delivering paid media campaigns that build brand advocacy as well having an understanding of how to create hard working assets that drive to purchase. The ideal candidate will know how to effectively manage an account, following processes and ways of working internally, with a wider network of agency partners and with our clients.

The candidate would ideally feel comfortable running and managing their own campaigns with the support of account & project managers. They will additionally work closely with the accounts Business Director to help oversee the day-to-day management of the account.

What you’ll be doing:

• Build and create productive client relationships with junior and mid-level clients throughout the delivery of projects, clearly communicating and managing expectations throughout.
• Proactively consider how actions will affect clients; responding quickly to meet client’s needs, resolve problems; avoid over-commitment.
• Understand the importance of account ‘admin’- issuing contact reports etc.
• Mentor and teach more junior members of the team on best account management habits.

Making work we’re proud of

• Have a near perfect understanding of agency processes and proactively manage projects – facilitating conversations between team members and considering how we can make the work even better at each stage.
• Be able to see and critique the work we do in its strategic context – how and why it answers a business problem and how it connects to the bigger picture.
• Provide opinions about the brief and the work and be keen to contribute – clearly valuing the quality of the work and how it fits within a wider brand strategy over a pure focus on process and delivery.

Delivery

• Take responsibility for successful delivery of the projects assigned to you.
• Understand what decisions are within your remit, and what is not, and engage others accordingly to ensure that those who are accountable can assist and guide as needed.
• Understand staffing and scoping requirements for your projects – working with project management to generate scopes of work, and timing plans accordingly.
• Understand production processes across a wide range of methodologies (still shoots vs motion shoots vs radio).
• Manage the budget on your projects, and work with Client and PMO Leads to manage costs and deliverables as well as staffing resources.
• Identify potential project risks and develop contingency plans.

Commercial Acumen

• Recognise when to escalate issues which have commercial implications with your business director.

Collaboration

• Proactively consult with key members of the project teams (internal and external), to facilitate partnership-oriented actions.
• Provide strategic counsel to clients, aligning their goals with effective campaign strategies.

Problem solving & decision making.

• Resolve problems and makes decision on your projects, consulting with stakeholders as needed.
• Actively recognise when escalation is necessary without being prompted.
• Create relevant options for addressing problems/opportunities and achieving desired outcomes on your projects. Take your line managers and partners solutions, not problems.

Requirements:

• Minimum of 5 years' experience at a creative agency. Experience on fast paced retail accounts preferred.
• The ability to critique creative ideas against a creative strategy and campaign objectives.
• Proven track record in successfully overseeing and delivering integrated marketing paid media campaigns across various channels including social assets/content, digital display, OOH, press & radio.
• Experience in co-ordinating and executing stills shoots (experience with food shoots preferred but not essential) along with managing presentation to client and approvals along the way.
• Organised and confident; you’ll need to ensure projects are managed with the right resource at the right time.
• Skill in crafting and delivering engaging presentations for clients.
• Has a deep understanding of the creative process from briefing to delivery. Additionally has the ability to communicate effectively with multiple stakeholders internally and externally to deliver the best work of our lives .
• Detail orientated with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in various stages of maturity .
• Financially savvy; you’ll need to work with the rest of the agency team to deliver proposals that are within the client’s budgets and ensure they are successful delivery .
• You’ll be someone that loves to get stuck into a task, and collaborate with the client and agency teams, and make stuff happen.

How we help you Thrive:

• 25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day
• Bupa Healthcare
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
• We have a Flexible Working Model with core working hours: 10am – 4pm
• A 1.5:1 Matching Pension Structure
• Wellbeing and Health: Up to £25.00 per month towards physical or online exercise class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests and development budgets and Wellbeing incentives and activities throughout the year
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Scheme
• Life Assurance